I was working in my precious metals store earlier this week and the phone rang. I was back in the office, and normally one of my employees would answer the phone. Instead, I got a, "Hey boss, could you answer this call?"
I pick up the call, and it goes something like this:
Me: Hi, how can I help you?
Them: I want to speak to a supervisor.
M: I'm the owner, what can I do for you?
T: I want to lodge a complaint. I called up yesterday, and got hung up on twice. It was very rude. I'm deaf and was just trying to get some information.
M: OK, I'll see what I can do. Tell me what happened.
T: I am so pissed off. I'm deaf and was trying to get some information. I use a translator because I'm deaf, and your employee hung up on me twice.
M: I understand that. Tell me what happened.
T: Well, I'm deaf, and I am just so insulted and pissed off that your employee hung up on me. He was discriminating against me.
M: (I can see where this is going). I've heard you say that a number of times. I'll take your information and speak with the employee who was on the floor yesterday. Is there anything else I can do for you?
T: Yes, I'm deaf and using a translator...
M: Ma'am, I heard you. I told you I'd speak with the employee. Why did you call yesterday? Let me see if I can answer that question.
T: (Long pause). Uhm, I wanted information about some Greek coins.
M: Are they gold or silver?
T: No.
M: Well then, I'm not going to be able to help you. We don't deal in ancient coins, and recent mintage Greek coins don't have much of a market here in the US, so we don't deal in them, either. Does that answer your question?
T: Well, I'm deaf, and pissed....
M: Ma'am, what can I do for you now?
(This round-about went on for 10 minutes).
I finally get her off the phone, and the employee who was in the day before tells me what happened. She called in, said she wanted information on some sort of paper money, not Greek coins. When he told her we didn't do business in that type of currency, she said that actually, she wanted to conduct a survey about the TTY system.
TTY is a device - that is required on both ends of the "conversation" - that is used by deaf people to communicate using phone lines. In my conversation with her, I could hear her "interpreter" whispering everything I said. I'm guessing she was reading the whisperer's lips.
My employee told her we don't do surveys on the phone for anyone. He kept telling her we didn't do surveys and was there any precious metals question he could answer. She kept saying she just wanted to do the survey.
It resulted in the hang-up. Twice.
I don't care if you're the Boy Scouts of America, the Mother Teresa Benevolent Society or some disabled person or organization. Sorry, but I don't have the time to give you for your project, regardless of how worthy you believe it to be.
And that's the rub. I am so sick and damned tired of people thinking they are owed something because they're "different".
Maybe they're deaf. Or in a wheelchair. Or black/Asian/Hispanic (non-white). Or gender-questionable. Or Muslim/Catholic/Protestant/Agnostic/Hindu.
Everyone has their own little niche in which to be a victim or oppressed or worthy, and they expect others to give their time and resources for their cause.
In my business setting, time is literally money. If I or my employees take time away from buying or selling with a customer, or posting items on our Internet site, or shipping/receiving packages, I lose money.
This liberal/leftist/statist mind-set of knowing better than I on how to allocate my resources doesn't cut it.
"I just need a little bit of your time for this very worthy project."
Kiss my ass. I'LL decide what I think are worthy projects. I'LL decide where and when I spend my money. I'LL decide where and when I give my time, because it's a finite resource.
Back to our deaf caller - She may have been born that way, or it may have occurred because of events out of her control.
Or, she may have gone to an AC/DC concert and blown out her own eardrums.
Honestly, I don't care. She may indeed have a very worthy cause - in her eyes - but I allocate my limited resources as I see fit, and I won't be bullied or brow-beaten into giving some to her cause.
I don't have the ability to create money out of thin air like the federal government. My money supply does indeed have a limit.
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So, where does Chief send his money. Glad you asked!
Most goes locally. I'm a big believer in helping those in my community (so I won't go into details).
National charities are military veteran-focused. It pisses me off to no end that we send men and women off to fight our battles, and the federal government then reneges on their promise to try and make them whole again when they come home broken (mentally or physically).
My latest foray has been with The Boot Campaign. It's a newer charity.
Now, I normally only give to charities I've run through Charity Navigator to see how they spend their money. Since The Boot Campaign is less than 7 years old, they aren't listed yet. An employee of mine told me about it, and had some personal knowledge of their operations, so I gave. YMMV.
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| Me and my Army boots |
The other national charity I give to is Fisher House. Every year, my morning radio station does a campaign for them, and they raise lots of money for this cause.
Why give to Fisher House, and not one of the others, such as Wounded Warrior Project? Very simply, efficiency.
For every dollar you give to Fisher House, $0.95 goes to the helping vets and their families. With Wounded Warrior, it's $0.57. My personal threshold for costs other than "Program Expenses" is $0.15 or less.
Sorry, but I don't want over 40 cents of every dollar I donate going to commercials or administrative overhead.
See how that works? As an individual, I can choose between options - discriminate - to make what I believe to be the best bang for my buck.
Gummint, and their statist lemmings, think they know best. Hang up on their ass!
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Copyright 2015 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. Please note that in addition to owning Bison Risk Management, Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com
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